I'm in the process of installing a MegaJolt EDIS 4 setup. I've broken the task down to the following steps:

Fasten the trigger wheel

Find an ideal spot and mount the VR sensor

Mount the coil pack

Wire up the system

To fasten the trigger wheel I simply ground away the inner-most pulley on the crank pulley as it wasn't used. The trigger wheel has an ID of 4" which is a little too small for the pulley to be machined down for a sleeve to accept it, so I'll have to weld/bolt instead. I will get the unit balanced once complete.

Finding an ideal location for the VR sensor took a bit of time but I finally chose a spot near the alternator. The mounting bracket has some play to allow fine adjustments.

I had several options to mount the coil pack. I could have mounted it on the chassis and had I gone that route I would have had it next to the wiper motor. Instead, I chose to make it a little cleaner and mount it on the block itself. MegaJolt confirmed that the coil pack can handle the vibration and heat. Once I chose to place it on the block I knew that I wanted to mount it where the distributor was located. I also wanted everything to be reversible so that I can get the car running quickly with a known setup if required.

To mount the coil pack where the distributor was located, I knew a couple of things had to be done first. The oil pump drive 'key' had to be secured rotationally as well directionally (ie: prevent it from spinning itself out of the oil pump). I wasn't sure how much force the key pushed up into the distributor but when I tore up a junked distributor I noticed that the bearing was only held in place with two tiny screws and washers - surprisingly little.

I removed the distributor's shaft which mates with the oil pump drive key and also removed the OEM plastic orange sleeve. I welded a new 1/2" steel bushing onto the dizzy shaft then cut the shaft down so that it was below the dizzy's mounting pedestal (so as to spin w/o hitting the coil pack plate mounted on the pedestal above it). I sourced a 1/2" ID by 1 3/8" OD bearing which fit perfectly inside the pedestal, and finally used a bicycle headset spacer to fill in the remaining space up to the coil pack mounting plate.

To summarize: 1) The bushing makes sure the dizzy shaft and oil pump key stay mated. 2) The shaft/bushing also presses up into the bearing 3) which is held down by the headset spacer 4) and coil pack mounting plate.

I shaped the coil pack mounting plate to fit as tightly to the block as possible while using the OEM pedestal bolt holes. The coil pack itself it held up with bushings (not pictured). I will eventually mount a heat shield to prevent too much exhaust manifold exposure - the manifold itself has temperature controlling coating.

I haven't yet started the wiring but I have sourced the recommended 22-24 gauge 2 conductor foil shielded cable.

The days are getting longer and my 510's still on stands. From the first day I got this car I swore the car wouldn't miss prime driving time due to projects running long. Progress has been steady (despite the record-breaking cold winter in Ottawa), but there's an even bigger push recently to get things wrapped up.

I can't wait to get the car on the road. Every year the hunger seems to get stronger. There's literally not a single day that I don't think about her.

List of projects and status:
- Starter for hybrid block/tranny. I've gone ahead and shaved the starter's pedestal about 2mm to get a better bite onto the flywheel. It looks much better. The starter has since been sent for rebuild, and the alternator for good measure.
- Pittman arm hitting the engine. The engine will be pushed up and back about 3/4" each way to clear the Pittman arm from the exhaust manifold and center link from the oil pan. New mounts have been made to provide the offset. They will be welded onto the crossmember once final fitment takes place. Need to cut a little of the tranny tunnel shifter hole a bit - fingers crossed there's enough slack in the driveshaft to not have to get it shortened... again.
- MegaJolt installation. Crank pulley was sent to a shop to machine a small groove to perfectly centre the trigger wheel. Trigger wheel has since been set (gap is 9 teeth off clockwise from the VR sensor when at TDC). Trigger wheel will now be welded to the crank pulley - and bolted together to ensure there's enough redundancy. VR sensor and coil pack mounts are done. Wiring of the VR sensor, coil pack, and to/from the computer to be complete.
- R1 Manifold updates. Changes are almost complete. Water bypass and extra vacuum nipples are almost done. Balance tube to provide a steady MAP reading for the MegaJolt ignition computer is also complete.
- Misc. New & better carpet has been ordered. New low-pressure fuel pump will be installed. Wiring has been cleaned up. Misc gaskets and tubing has been ordered.

After last year's limited driving time due to various self-inflicted reliability issues, this year's goal is to make the car much more robust. I have several trips planned for the car, including one vacation. The fuel, ignition, and cooling systems have all been examined and enhanced.

Spring is here, and the Megajolt is still not fully wired in (and not something I want to rush).

Similar to previous winter projects that go longer than planned, I have no problem taking a few steps back to put my 510 on the road ASAP.

In this case it was only a matter of a quick swap of the distributor and I was done in minutes. I was quite surprised how quickly the car fired up last night, like 1/2 a second and she was idling like it's been running all winter. This was after the engine, fuel pump and carbs were pulled. This motor really wants to run! The new starter also works like a charm and the motor's new position with the revised mounts is perfect.

The revised Bogg manifold is perfect. With the new water/rad bypass hose installed (see u-shaped hose on the right side of under-manifold pic) it means the thermostat could be reinstalled. If you haven't read my post from earlier this winter, on the KA24e the thermostat is on the EXHAUST side of the radiator and depends on a water (radiator) bypass pipe to get heat to open.

Bogg also moved the runners' vacuum nipples to the underside (aesthetics) and constructed a 'balance tube' which supplies a constant vac source. This will be for the MAP sensor on the Megajolt computer but for now it can supply the dizzy's vac advance.

Finally, a new eBay carpet was installed. Compared to the my old setup (sold by a member on a couple of 510 sites), this carpet is much higher quality. Underpad is thick, the seams are fully stitched, floormat for driver's feet, and several extra pieces (ie: back kickplate under passenger seats). I'm impressed!

The plan going forward is to get the few last little items off my To Do list to make the car road worthy, then in the next few weeks take my time to properly wire in the Megajolt computer. The EDIS4 trigger wheel is already in place, as are the VR sensor and coil pack mounts, so when I'm ready to swap over it will just be a matter of unplugging the dizzy's spark plug wires and installing the EDIS4 coil pack spark plug wires. Once running I can remove the dizzy (and place the coil pack and mount in it's place), remove the master coil and finally clean up the wiring/hoses.

Many KA24e owners go through the dreaded ticking from faulty/seized hydraulic valve lifters (HVL). My engine was no different - especially as there was high mileage already on the drivetrain.

For those who don't know, the KA comes with hydraulic valve lifters (fancy words for an oil-pressurized valve lash adjuster) embedded within the rocker arms.

Best case scenario they dynamically adjust the valve lash making for a trouble-free setup. The problem is that over time most eventually fail and either seize shut (compressed) or do not maintain sufficient pressure causing a lot of play and hence the ticking.

It's pretty easy to find the faulty HVLs. Remove the valve cover and by pressing with just your finger (making sure the cam isn't acting on the rocker arm) you should have no more than 0.5mm of movement. In my case, I had one with 1-1.5mm and two others just over 0.5mm.

Finding replacements was a PITA. I eventually figured out that ordering full replacement rocker arms will include the HVL and remove the hassle of swapping them out. Rock Auto had them for about $32 each. An alternative is to go solid lash adjusters but that requires quite an investment in cash and maintenance.

To swap out the arms, which took all of 15min:
- Removed the valve cover
- Remove the rock arm shaft bolts from the outside - in.
- Carry the Shaft/arm assembly to a clean work bench
- Remove the spacer clips off the shaft, then the rocker arms slide right off the shaft.
- Soak the new rocker arms in an oil bath and then manually pressed the HVL when submerged. You will see air escape out of a bleed hole on top.
- Once bled I put them on the shaft, reinstalled the spacer clips, and bolted the shaft down. Working outside - in, starting with 15lbs/ft then repeating with 30 lbs/ft.
- I started the car and idled for a few minutes at 1500 RPM.
- They were still ticking a bit so I took the car out for a run. As soon as a load was placed on the engine the HVL quieted right up.

The car has been running strong the last few weeks - no complaints on lack of power. Smoothness however has been an issue. The 'blue' electronic distributor I purchased a couple of years ago has never run well. Missing on idle and elsewhere in the powerband. To finish this engine project off, this car needed a stronger and more controlled ignition.

Despite having the EDIS4 mechanical setup (trigger wheel, VR sensor, coil pack mount) in place for almost 6 months now, I've been slow to finish the final wiring component. Truth is that I wasn't comfortable with my knowledge of electrical wiring and I was still missing lots of little things to wrap this project up.

I also wanted to make sure this wasn't a half-assed install. I want everything done right the first time.

The outstanding items were:

- Wiring diagram to properly reflect the MegaJolt with internal revlimiter function. This required the coils being powered by the computer, and not directly from it's own source as per original EDIS4 wiring diagram posted a few months ago. I also wanted to make sure I fused according to the load and wire size, and I wanted a relay to power the entire circuit.

MJL_4Cyl_IntRevLimiter.jpg (72.71 KiB) Viewed 1530 times

- Spark plug wires that worked on the coil pack (attachment clips) and still fit on the KA24e. This was not easy to find! Eventually I settled on set of Ford EDIS v8 plugs. The spark plug connectors were straight (many 4cyl were angled) and there were 8 different lengths of which to chose 4 that would be best for the KA24e and the coil pack location

EDIS4_PlugWires.jpg (98.15 KiB) Viewed 1530 times

- Tuning computer. MegaJolt uses a serial port connector as an interface to the computer. Unfortunately this is somewhat archaic technology. I looked into Serial-USB adaptors but apparently some don't work with the Microsoft OS. Eventually I just purchased an old refurb laptop off Kijiji for $80 that has a serial port.

EDIS4_TuningComputer.jpg (72.42 KiB) Viewed 1530 times

With everything in place it's now a matter of wiring the EDIS4 up w/o the Megajolt to make sure the harness/coil pack/VR sensor all works. EDIS4 has a default limp-home mode that runs 10BTDC, and excellent feature should the computer ever crap out.

Once the EDIS4 is running I can wire up Megajolt and start mapping - which presents another stumbling block for me. I have no idea what map to start with. There's not much reference online but I did find a KA24de map which I'll compare to the default MegaJolt software map to see how aggressive it is.

EDIS4_KA24DE_IgnitionMap.jpg (148.5 KiB) Viewed 1530 times

I'm hoping to get a free day in the next week or two to commit to wiring up the computer. I've already commenced with a mounting plate for the computer and harness. I've welded 4 mounting bolts to the underside of the dash (THIN metal!) so everything will be inside the cabin and tucked out of the way.

In what seems like forever, I had some free time this week to start wiring up my MegaJolt ignition.

Since the EDIS4 system defaults to 10 BTDC, Autosport Labs (vendor of MegaJolt) recommends to first wire up the EDIS4 system w/o the MegaJolt computer to ensure everything works as it should. With a new Accel coil I was sure that I eliminated one of the typically vulnerable components. Just to be sure, I left the current electronic ignition in place to warm up the car and be 100% certain that everything was good mechanically. The idea was that I could alternate between ignition systems simply by swapping plug wires.

MegaJolt_EDIS4_Only.jpg (123.35 KiB) Viewed 1458 times

It took longer than planned, but I was a careful to ensure everything was as it should. As this setup is somewhat temporary I didn't bother to trim extra wire or solder everything in the engine bay or at the harness (marrettes work great).

MegaJolt_MessyWiring.jpg (110.88 KiB) Viewed 1458 times

Once complete and the car warmed up I swapped in the EDIS4 spark plugs wires in and gave it a crank. Nothing but misfire came out include a HUGE backfire! Despite the timing issue this did confirm that I had spark (which means I guessed correctly on the VR sensor wiring orientation - VR Blue goes to Harness #6, VR Grey to #5). So either the trigger wheel was out of whack (not good) or I was 180 degree out... True to the title of this thread (noobie, or dumb-ass, which ever works best), when I swapped coils with 1 & 4, 2 & 3 leads she fire right up with a smooth idle. NICE!!!

Pushing the completed wire/connector assembly will be easy, it should just slide in. They can be removed as well, but you'll want to ensure a competent crimp of the connector to the wire beforehand. It'll probably be the easiest part of your project

Because when you spend a silly amount of money on a silly, trivial thing that will help you not one jot, you are demonstrating that you have a soul and a heart and that you are the sort of person who has no time for Which? magazine. – Jeremy Clarkson